Maple Syrup

[zach21b]

I been brewing for about a year now with extract and am making some pretty good beers now. I want to try some thing new but am not sure how to do it. My grandparents make home made maple syrup and I want to make a beer with it as an ingredient. Here are my questions.
How much maple syrup?
When to add the maple syrup?
What other grain and malts to use with it?
What kind of yeast?
Hops?

I was thinking maybe some think like a maple stout or a maple porter?? I know a lot about IPA'S and Pale Ales but when it comes to this I am lost.

 

[Kiichi]

In terms of grain and malt I´d go for something that provides body as maple sirup is highly fermentable and thus can dry out the beer. For the questions of when to add it I say the later the better as you should get more flavor out of it that way and let it shine. Maybe when primary starts to slow down and as a bottling sugar.
For hops I´d go simple and classic with some European noble hops. British or German probably. Just for that hint of spice and earth as balance for the sweetness but not to be the star.
For a yeast I´d probably use an English ale yeast to give you lower attenuation and therefore more residual sweetness. Plus some character.
As to what style, I think you are on a good path. Maybe consider something barley wine-ish too. My personal preference would probably be the porter though. Or an oatmeal stout. Smooth mapley goodness.
Can´t comment much on how much you need, but if I recall you´ll need a good bit to impart proper flavor.

I once brewed a california common with maple sirup. Interesting that.

 

[dmcclain]

I've not used maple syrup, but I do use honey in my IPA. I add it late in the boil. Give it just enough time to blend, but not much boil.

 

[Schumed]

Maple flavor is very hard ...only way to get it is to add at kegging anything else will just ferment out ...I've tried

 

[mrdauber64]

I've been wanting to soak bourbon oak cubes in maple syrup. Then add the cubes and syrup to the secondary. My thought is that the maple aroma and flavor would get absorbed into the oak and show more in the finished beer. I haven't tried it though so I'm not sure if it would work. I'm thinking this would work well in a oatmeal brown or porter.

 

[m00ps]

I make a Flapjack Breakfast stout thats got maple syrup, chocolate, vanilla, and coffee. I would definitely recommend adding it coldside into the fermentor. That will keep as much of the aromatics as possible and give the yeast a boost to finish out the fermentation.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=496504
I think oak would overpower any maple syrup character you get. You can always add some, and then use maple syrup for priming sugar too

 

[Kiichi]

Bit of medium french toast oak would certainly go well with heavier maple beers, but I too would use it with great restraint.

As for soaking I don´t believe that would do much good as the maple would probably not penetrate much in terms of flavor and not extract much either due to the lack of alcohol.

Rather pre-soak the oak in a touch of alcohol.

And, as I said before, add the maple sirup as late as possible and then also for priming to get the most out of it.

 

[m00ps]

yupyupyup, maple syrup as late as you can. I think Northern Brewer includes it in their priming caluclator is youre interested:
http://www.northernbrewer.com/learn/resources/priming-sugar-calculator/

 

[BakerBrew]

A friend and I were discussing this yesterday - you could try soaking the oak in a maple flavored alcohol, such as Crown Royal Maple. Don't know if this would work, but you could attempt to infuse the maple syrup into bourbon, whiskey, etc. and then soak the wood. The alcohol might help absorb some of the maple. Simply soaking the oak in the syrup will do diddly-squat.

 

[mrdauber64]

There was an episode of Brew Dogs where they worked with a Michigan brewery, Founders maybe? The brewery makes a beer that ages in barrels that once contained bourbon, then was repurposed to hold maple syrup, then finally they are used for an RIS. I've never had this beer but supposedly you do get maple syrup and bourbon flavors coming through in the finished beer. Why wouldn't oak cubes that followed the same steps(bourbon, syrup, then beer) work the same way?

 

[NothingRhymesWithCurtiss]

Beards in Petoskey, Michigan, uses maple sap in place of water in one of their stouts. I tried it a few weeks back, and it is might tasty!

https://www.beermenus.com/beers/83462-beards-brewery-tree-blood-maple-sap-stout

 

[bembel]

Excellent podcast on Basic Brewing Radio about brewing with Maple Syrup

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/03-19-15-brewing-with-maple/id75092679?i=337926398&mt=2

I recommend listening to it, I learned a lot! Its not so much recipes, more theory